Final Report for ERSI-UNESCO Project, Dec. 2003
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Final Report on ERSI-UNESCO Project "Application of Remote Sensing for Integrated
Management of Ecosystems and Water Resources in Africa"
Submitted by Dr. S. Gomez, Project Co-ordinator
1.0 Introduction
Many African governments are now in the process of formulating national sustainable
development programmes that encompass the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) such
as poverty alleviation, access to education, reduction of child mortality and ensuring
environmental sustainability. Several of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa such as
Zimbabwe are however facing socio-economic challenges that pose a threat to achieving the
MDG's. A key tool required for improved environmental management and planning as part
of sustainable development programmes in Zimbabwe as well as the rest of the southern
African region are accurate land cover/natural resources spatial databases. Remote sensing
(RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are tools that can provide accurate, timeous
information on the environment and natural resources in a country for improved
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of sustainable development programmes. The
UNESCO programme on the "Application of Remote Sensing for Integrated Management of
Ecosystems and Water Resources in Africa," for the year 2002-2003 (Phase 1) is a
crosscutting project that aims to contribute to the reinforcing of capacities in remote sensing
through scientific research, educational and training in support of sustainable use of
ecosystems and water resources in Africa. The application of space technologies is underdeveloped and nominally used for national development programmes in sub-Saharan Africa
(with the exception of S.Africa). For example the use of remote sensing for food security,
drought mitigation and other related programmes in southern Africa is still not effectively
used. The crux of the problem related to the under-development and under-utilisation of the
technology in the region is related to lack of awareness by decision-makers in both public and
private sector, inadequate national and regional co-ordination of programmes, insufficient
capacity and inadequate resources for its long term sustainability.
In the context of providing technologies and tools that could provide improved information
on the environment/ecosystems and its ability to sustain a population, the Environment and
Remote Sensing Institute (ERSI) which is the national remote sensing facility in Zimbabwe
has a history of implementing several pilot projects to demonstrate the application of high
resolution satellite data for improved data collection on agricultural and natural resources
such as ground water potential assessments in the mid-to-late 1990's. The poor uptake of the
technologies after implementation of several pilot projects is characteristic of many donor
driven programmes. A first step towards redressing this problem would be the formation of
a Regional Task Force or Working Group of experienced remote sensing professionals who
would better steer and develop technical programmes from a regional/demand-driven
perspective. ERSI submitted a proposal to UNESCO in the first quarter of 2003 on the issue
of forming a Regional Task Force comprised of experienced and qualified Remote
Sensing/GIS (RS/GIS) professionals in the southern African region who could steer and
develop regional programmes that are more sustainable than the donor-driven projects. The
Task Force would also be in a position to advise public and private sector in the region on the
development and support needed for the technology. Key players in such a Task Force would
be the private sector in the region such as the mining houses that have well developed remote
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sensing technologies and who hitherto have not contributed their resources for national
development programmes. There would also be a critical role for the UN agencies such as
UNESCO and UNOOSA as well as the international Space Agencies to be involved in such a
Task Force.
UNESCO supported the proposal and activities under the UNESCO crosscutting programme
on the "Application of Remote Sensing for Integrated Management of Ecosystems and Water
Resources in Africa," for the year 2002-2003 (Phase 1); whilst most of the African countries
selected to participate in this programme undertook national level multi-stakeholder
workshops and pilot project activities, ERSI maintained the need to develop a regional
programme. This was based on adequate national level experience in the past 10 years which
directed ERSI to realise the need for a regional level Task Force.
This final report will outline the project activities in the next section and the
results/achievements of these activities will be described in the third section. Finally the
report will conclude with some of the problems encountered in project implementation, the
recommendations and a financial statement for the work undertaken thus far.
1.1 Goal of project definition phase
The overall goal of the project was to utilise existing regional expertise from both private and
public sector to assess the status of RS/GIS in the region and form a Working Group of
regional experts who could steer regional programmes. This novel co-operation would also
aim to develop north-south links between the international space agencies, the UN agencies
and regional stakeholders, via collaborative technical programmes. The overall goal was to
be achieved by following the main project objectives discussed in the next paragraph.
As part of the UNESCO cross-cutting project some of the national and regional activities that
ERSI planned to undertake and which comprised the main objectives of the project definition
phase given the problems outlined in Section 1.0 were as follows:
1. To set up and define the Terms of Reference for a Regional Task Force who could steer
and develop regional remote sensing/GIS projects. The Task Force would include public
and private sector in the region, relevant UN agencies, international Space Agencies and
remote sensing institutes from the developed countries.
2. Development of the project definition phase which includes the development of research
and capacity building programmes that demonstrate the application of remote sensing in
sustainable development programmes as well as the sustainability of the technology
nationally and in the region.
3. Regular reports and seminars on the UNESCO programme to UNESCO H.Q.; networking
and information exchange/dissemination via attendance at UNOOSA Workshop in
Austria (September 2003) and GOOS Workshop in S.Africa (October 2003) as well as
presentations at local fora.
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2.0 Programme of Action
The main activities undertaken to fulfill the objectives outlined in Section 1.0 are outlined in
Table 2. The chronology of activities described in Table 2 had the aim of fulfilling the
objectives outlined in Section 1.1 as follows:
 identifying key participants both for the workshop and for the formation of a Regional
Task Force of experienced professionals;
 hold a regional multi-stakeholder workshop with key participants;
 ascertaining the status of RS/GIS in the region and identifying key bottlenecks to the
progress of the technology;
 developing collaborative links with the key private sector agencies that are involved with
remote sensing;
 developing collaborative links with the EU/ESA programmes as potentially important
projects for the region;
 recommend the next steps for phase 2 of the programme.

Table 2.0 Programme of activities and resulting outputs
Activity
Time-frame
(2003)
Drafting of Proposed Workplan for
July 30th
Programme and Workshop Plan


Development of questionnaire and survey
Stakeholder consultation and selection of
team for Regional Task Force
Visit of external evaluator: Dr. J. Adegoke
Aug. 15-30
Outputs



Aug. 14-18



Sept. 8-11

Sept. 11

Status Report
Sept. 20th

Stakeholder workshop
October 2224


Presentation of programme at
UNOOSA/ESA Symposium on
Applications of Space Technology for
Sustainable Development, Graz, Austria
Meeting with ESA and GAF to discuss
TIGER and GMES programme


Final Report
December 1st

Workplan for Programmes
and Workshop programme
and objectives
Selection of RS Task Force
participants
Information on status of
RS/GIS in the region
Assessment of ERSI
programme
Report on assessment of
ERSI's status as RS institute
in the region
Feedback on proposed
programme from
participants in southern
Africa.
Proposed collaborative
activities between Regional
Task Force and ESA on
GMES and TIGER
programmes
Summary of activities and
financial status
Definition of Regional Task
Force and objectives of
group
Workshop Report and
recommendations
Programme of Action for
next phase
Report and
recommendations for next
phase
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The main activities focussed on the following:
 Identification of experienced RS/GIS practitioners in the region; that is mainly the
RS/GIS service providers and private sector agencies that have well established practices
and credibility in using the technologies for various applications. The main criteria used
to select participants was if the user or service provider was in an operational and
production mode; that is they had demonstrable evidence for being RS/GIS practitioners
in terms of production/productivity.
 Prior to the workshop a questionnaire was developed to acquire relevant information on
the status of RS/GIS in the region in terms of capacity/infrastructure etc, and
recommendations for the promotion of the technologies from private and public sector
remote sensing practitioners.
 UNESCO arranged for an evaluation/appraisal mission by a member of the UNESCO
Technical Advisory Committee in mid-August 2003. The main observations and
recommendations that Dr. Adegoke made was that ERSI was well established and set up
as a national RS institute and could potentially become a centre of excellence. He
suggested that a national workshop be held first as a precursor to the regional workshop;
however as several national RS/GIS Workshops have been held in Zimbabwe in the past
10 years this recommendation was considered to be redundant and the proposed regional
multi-stakeholder workshop was discussed with UNESCO H.Q. and justified.
 A presentation of the programme was made at the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs
(UNOOSA)/Austria/European Space Agency (ESA) Symposium on Space Applications
for Sustainable Development from 8-11 Sept. in Graz, Austria. The title of the
presentation was, "Public-Private Sector Partnerships for the Promotion of Remote
Sensing Technologies for Sustainable Development in southern Africa." The presentation
referred to the UNESCO programme and the need to include private sector for the
development of sustainable RS programmes in the region.
 The regional multi-stakeholder workshop was held in Jo'burg from 24-28 October 2003.
The workshop included meetings with Advisors to the NEPAD Secretariat and the senior
management of the Secretariat to advise them on the programme and obtain their
endorsement.
 Definition of objectives of Regional Task Force and programme of activities for the next
phase of the regional programme.
The next section will highlight the main achievements reached after implementing these
various activities.
3.0 Main achievements
The main achievements attained as a result of implementing the various steps outlined in
Section 2 are as follows:

Core group of a consortium of RS practitioners was formed. The participants were crosssectoral from both private and public sector but mainly from the private sector and from
S.Africa. Such remote sensing practitioners have the most experience in the development
of RS/GIS programmes, methodologies and capacity building exercises in the region and
are able to define the technical and institutional requirements for promotion and support
of the technologies. It was noted by the participants that the workshop provided a forum
for the first time for private sector and public sector RS/GIS practitioners to engage in4
round-table discussions to share their experiences in the field and to discuss the
Final Report for ERSI-UNESCO Project, Dec. 2003
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bottlenecks that were being experienced as well as recommendations for further
developing the technologies.

The presentation at the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)/Austria/European
Space Agency (ESA) Symposium on Space Applications for Sustainable Development
from 8-11 Sept. in Graz, Austria was well received as was evident by the discussions
thereafter with participants from the southern African region. Furthermore discussions
were held with the Project Co-ordinators for the ESA-TIGER programme and the
EU/ESA-Global Monitoring of the Environment and Security (GMES) programme on
collaborative initiatives to be undertaken in the southern African region in 2004. For
example the GSE Forest Monitoring programme is an unique element of the GMES and
aims at supplying accurate, timely and readily available information on the state of forest
systems to support more informed decisions and improved policies that enable sustainable
forest management and related activities. SADC Forestry Departments such as in
Namibia, S.Africa and Zimbabwe could be key users of the GSE Forest Monitoring
programme data and information on for example areas of forest and land use changes,
areas of afforestation/reforestation/deforestation, above ground biomass/carbon stock etc.
for the implementation of the following international environmental conventions such as
the UN Framework on Climate Change (Kyoto Protocol), UN Convention for Combating
Desertification (UNCCD).
 Information on the status of RS in the region from the questionnaire survey and the
workshop was obtained as follows:
 It was noted that inspite of the introduction of the technologies to the region in the
past decade, the uptake of the technologies for applications in environmental management
has been limited. This was attributed to a lack of awareness by decision makers on the role
of the technology and its applications; the lack of infrastructure and lack of human
resources in the field. Furthermore due to the lack of co-ordination of RS projects there has
been a lack of sustainability of programmes that are especially supported by donors.
 The private sector (which were from S.Africa) demonstrated the advanced level of
development in the field of RS - for example the mining Co. Anglo American illustrated an
example of the in-house airborne electro-magnetic spectrum instrument which had a 600 m
underground sub-stratum/depth penetration used for bedrock and ground surface mapping.
The main public sector organisations that have been operational with RS/GIS (for at least
the past 10 years) with demonstrable programmes and projects included the Satellite
Applications Centre (SAC), CSIR in S.Africa and the Forestry Commission in Zimbabwe.
 A critical mass of professionals has not yet developed in any organisation (whether
private or public sector). S.Africa leads in the region in terms of RS/GIS educational
programmes at a graduate and post-graduate level; the University of Fort Hare for example
offers the only undergraduate RS/GIS course for years 2 and 3 (honors) degree students.
Graduate level courses are offered at University of Cape Town, University of
Witwatersrand and University of Stellenbosch. In Zimbabwe the main Department - the
Department of Surveying - that offered courses in RS/GIS both at an undergraduate and
graduate level focussed more on the GIS component and has furthermore recently closed
down due to the major exodus of professional staff out of the country. In many of the other
countries in the region such as in Botswana and Namibia many of the large RS/GIS
programmes (national level data capture) and training programmes are being conducted
and/or undertaken by expatriate staff and companies.
An example of an innovative educational programme that has been initiated as a means to
redress the problem of the lack of educational programmes in the field, is the Virtual5
Training in RS/GIS programme spearheaded by Prof. H. Annegarn of University of
Final Report for ERSI-UNESCO Project, Dec. 2003
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Witwatersrand and introduced to the workshop participants by Dr. Harris. The proposed
programme would have a 'virtual campus' with a core group of lecturers who would develop
curricula and teach at various Universities; teleconferencing and Internet/email would also
be used as modes of communication and teaching. It is proposed that the UNESCO could
support such a capacity building regional programme in the pilot phase.
 One main observation made during the discussions at the workshop was the need
for a co-ordinating agency for R&D in RS/GIS which would steer and focus the RS research
and identify technological gaps. Another important observation was that the capacity for
R&D in the private sector is often neglected yet very often the service providers (whether
small companies or the large corporations) have the facilities and motivation to undertake
research as clients often require datasets and outputs that cannot be immediately provided
without research into relevant methodologies and programmes. Service providers for
example often have demonstration models or case studies which can be used to initiate
R&D programmes or in feasibility studies for R&D programmes. Additionally as many
Universities in the region have heavy teaching loads and nominal time for R&D it would be
beneficial (in terms of time/costs/resources) for the academic institutes to undertake
collaborative research with the private sector.
 The NEPAD Secretariat was briefed on the formation of a RS/GIS regional task
Force and its planned activities. The NEPAD Secretariat was supportive of the initiatives as
the Advisors require technical backstopping and advise on RS/GIS technologies; Dr.
Rukato-Advisor on Environment to the Secretariat requested an invitation to attend the next
workshop that is being planned jointly with ESA.

Many international programmes on the application of remote sensing for natural
resources management and sustainable development are being initiated by different
agencies after the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) last year;
however there is often under-representation of private and public sector agencies from
southern Africa and/or inappropriate representation at the international fora when these
programmes are launched. The private sector are often not included or invited to
participate in such programmes. An example of an international programme which has
been initiated for Africa but has thus far had nominal inputs from participants in the
southern Africa region is the European Space Agency (ESA)-TIGER initiative on water
resources management with a focus on groundwater applications for Africa. Key
stakeholders in Namibia and Botswana - the 2 main countries in southern Africa that rely
on groundwater - had not been made aware of this programme nor had they participated
in the first TIGER meeting of stakeholders in Morocco in early October 2003. Another
ESA/EU programme targeted at the southern African countries that requires further
profiling and development is the Global Monitoring of Food Security (GMFS) of the
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme. As sustainability
of these programmes would be increased if they were driven by the needs of the region,
the Regional Task Force recognised the importance of raising awareness of such
international programmes in the region in both the public and private sector. The potential
to collaborate with ESA on such programmes was discussed and as a first priority in order
to ensure relevant participation in these programmes a further regional workshop was
recommended be held with key stakeholders in the water, agriculture/land use planning
sectors. ERSI had already communicated with ESA on this matter and there was
provision from both organisations for small funds to host such a workshop in
collaboration with SAC. The regional RS/GIS Task Force also recommended that
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UNESCO support these workshops and the follow up pilot programmes as part of UNESCO's
phase 2 for the cross-cutting project on the "Application of Remote Sensing for Integrated
Management of Ecosystems and Water Resources in Africa."
 ESA have been very supportive of the proactive initiative taken by ERSI in driving these
regional programmes. The aims of the workshops are to develop collaborative technical
programmes between regional participants and ESA programmes; that is the workshops
should be considered as project definition stages.
4.0 Recommendations and financial statement
The main objectives of developing a core group of private and public sector RS practitioners
who have drafted key objectives and activities for the next phase was achieved during the
programme. This Working group has also received support for the vision and their activities
from the NEPAD Secretariat. The main constraints to implementing the programme in the
past few months has been both conceptual and logistical.
The following
logistical/administrative problems were encountered:
 poor email/Internet facilities at ERSI which constrained effective and regular
communication with UNECSO on project implementation;
 poor communication from UNESCO in terms of feedback on reports and timeous
payment of funds which were required for project implementation.
The following were conceptual problems encountered:
 poor understanding of regional needs by the international agencies such as the ESA and
the UN;
 poor understanding by the UN agencies of mechanisms for private sector involvement in
RS/GIS programmes.
The main recommendations for the resolution of these problems are:
 ERSI has to improve their email and Internet connections and service provision;
 UNESCO should develop feedback systems with the local counterparts and timeous
delivery of payments;
 UNESCO should take more of a lead role in supporting new initiatives such as privatepublic sector partnerships and assist with development of partnership frameworks etc.;
 UNESCO should develop strong linkages with African RS practitioners such that there is
more awareness within UNESCO on the needs of the continent as well as the constraints
in technology development.
The final achievement in the implementation of this project definition phase was that it
supported the overall aim of UNESCO's cross-cutting programme's first phase which was to
develop a network of regional centres of excellence in RS/GIS; this objectives was stated in
the letter of 8th July 2003 by Prof. Seddoh on the programme. Whilst there are limited
regional centres of excellence in RS/GIS in southern Africa the project identified
organisations in both private and public sector that were in operational mode and had
sufficient professional experience to steer, promote regional programmes and provide advise
to the NEPAD Secretariat. For example one of the main criteria as specified by UNESCO for
identifying these centres would be the involvement of the institution (such as ERSI) in
regional, global programmes related to the priorities of ecosystem and water resources
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management; this was adequately demonstrated by ERSI taking the lead in developing a
regional consortium of RS/GIS specialists who had experience in such programmes and who
would define regional programmes that would link up with existing international programmes
(such as ESA programmes).
4.1 Financial statement
The costs incurred thus far for project implementation are outlined in Table 4.0; additional
costs for hosting a regional workshop for developing international project programmes
(TIGER and GMES) as part of the project implementation are included and will also be cofinanced by SIRDC.
Table 4.0 Financial status for project
Activity
Unit Costs in US$ and Total Costs in
Time-frame
US$
Transport costs for UNESCO Aug. 2003 (3 days)
100
Evaluation mission
Teleconferences Aug. -Oct. 2003
300
Paris/S.Africa/Germany
Meetings in Europe to
Sept. 2003
400
discuss GMES and TIEGR
programme for SADC
National Dataset procured for Aug. 2003
620
Zimbabwe - image data of
admin.
boundaries/roads/water
resources etc.
Multi-stakeholder workshop Oct. 2004 (3 days)
3000
held in Jo'burg
Report production/review by Nov.-Dec. 2003
300
participants and
dissemination
Multi-stakeholder workshops Jan. 2004
6000
for GMES and TIGER
Total
10, 720
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